By Nathan Jackson
April 26 2007

Lincoln City could be "celebrating" a place in the playoffs even if they lose at Grimsby Town on Saturday afternoon. All City have to do is match Bristol Rovers' result to guarantee a playoff place, but City have a very difficult task against an inconsistant Grimsby Town side

One week after THAT weekend in Bristol (see the video section to see what I mean) we get to our final scheduled away game of the season. It’s been a long season one the road that started with us winning 7 of our first away wins, setting a new club record for consecutive away wins, some with absolutely brilliant performances, being the only side to secure all 3 points at both Walsall and Wycombe, as well as taking points from MK Dons and Hartlepool, only being denied all 3 points by last minute goals in both occasions. It’s certainly been an interesting season on the road and where better to end than the seaside at Cleethorpes.

 

However, attention will be far from the area that contains the bouncy castles, arcades and donkeys on the beach, the Imps won’t be after the prizes in the 2p machines, we’re after the prize of a place in the playoffs. Bristol Rovers’ victory in midweek means that the playoffs still aren’t secure yet, but if the Imps get just a point at Grimsby then it means that Bristol Rovers will have to beat both Swindon and Hartlepool to win promotion.

 

Blundell Park hasn’t been the happiest of grounds since Grimsby joined the division in 2004. Despite a memorable 4-2 win there in January 2005, City were battered like the famous Grimsby fish in the league meeting last year, only to then suffer a defeat live on TV in the playoffs. Oddly enough the Imps have a decent record in general against Grimsby in the League. If you just count the 5 league games in the last 3 years, City have won 3 of those, drawing once and losing the aforementioned league game last year.

 

Imps’ fans said in the early months of the season that they thought that we would go to Grimsby and would secure promotion there, obviously plans have slightly changed since then but Saturday could still see the Imps leave Grimsby with a fantastic chance of promotion. However, City will certainly have to improve on recent form to get something from a resurgent Grimsby side. With the Imps winning just once since the middle of February, the automatic promotion dream slowly faded away and it’s vital that we don’t continue that worrying form.

 

It is likely the majority of the side that hit the post 4 times at Bristol Rovers will start against Grimsby. Marriott will almost certainly be in goal despite of Olejnik’s heroics in the Cup on Tuesday night. With Paul Mayo in excellent form and Paul Morgan having a pleasing performance against Bristol Rovers, it is unlikely that Nat Brown will walk straight back into the first team after his suspension. Eaden will more than likely play on the right of defence with Green on the left.

 

The midfield should offer no surprises, although hopefully Frecklington will make a return to the starting 11 to partner Kerr in the centre. Beevers on the right wing and Hughes on the left should stay the same from last week. All 4 of those midfielders will more than likely be playing behind Forrester and Stallard, despite the fact that neither have set the world alight recently.

 

Grimsby Town started their own TV show the other day, making a half-hour appearance on Sky Channel 195 in a show called “Grimsby Town TV” (I wonder how longer they were at the table thinking of that one) but that will hardly distract them to the extend that Big Ron Manager (aka How to fill Ron Atkinson’s Ego in seven 1 hour slots) distracted the players at Peterborough. That is probably because Grimsby isn’t full of prima-donnas such as Danny Crow, Adam Newton and Sean St Ledger.

 

Grimsby have had a disappointing season compared to last season and just like Leeds, they got rid of a manager who got them into the playoffs, only to be looking at relegation for some (or all in Leeds’ case) of the season. Grimsby come into the game on the back of a thrilling 5-0 victory over Barnet, that came just a week after Grimsby lost 4-1 at Accrington. It's a sign of just how inconsistant Grimsby have been this season, although they did win 7 out of 8 at around the same time that the Imps started to crock it up.

 

City will definitely have as much of a struggle as most of the other promotion challengers have done. Out of the other 6 teams currently in the Top 7, Grimsby have beaten 4 of them, losing to Hartlepool and Stockport. City will definitely have to be on the top of their game to get something at Blundell Park.